Some of the stories that caught my attention:

• An upcoming paper in the August issue of the Mayo Clinic Proceedings sheds light on the high price of cancer drugs and the implications for patients and the health care system. The report also provides recommendations on potential ways to reduce the financial strain.
• The Harper government in Canada announced funding for a new breast imaging tool that may help reduce additional follow-up surgeries for breast cancer patients. Perimeter Medical Imaging Inc, a medical device company based in Toronto, will develop and test the new tool.
• Researchers at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute have identified that age and fear of cancer diagnosis are among the reasons why there are high rates of Latina women that do not continue participation following breast and cervical cancer education programs. The research was published in the Journal of Health Communication.

Some of the stories that caught my attention:

• Researchers at King’s College London and the University of Strathclyde in France conducted an in-depth review of randomized trials of specific screening tests and found that the benefits of mammograms are likely to have been overestimated. The results were published as a systematic review in Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. There have been a number of articles published lately in this area of ongoing debate.
• University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) scientists recently led a panel of experts in revising national guidelines for thyroid cancer testing to reflect newly available tests that better incorporate personalized medicine into diagnosing the condition. Their clinical explanation for when to use and how to interpret thyroid cancer tests was published in Thyroid.
• A new method for culturing stem cells has been developed by scientists at the University of Adelaide. The research is expected to lead to new treatments for transplant patients. Read more about this development in the journal Stem Cells.
• NCI’s Cancer Current Blog is now available in Spanish. While not every blog post will be translated in Spanish, stories of specific interest to the Spanish-speaking population will appear in español.

Some of the stories that caught my attention:

• A recent study suggests a link between fatalistic beliefs and completion of HPV vaccine series among Appalachian women. The research was conducted at the University of Kentucky and published in the Journal of Rural Health.
• A recent article in the New York Times sheds light on protecting your skin from the sun and from cancer. The article summarizes recent studies on commercially used sunscreens, knowledge, and attitudes amongst consumers.
• ASCO released a conceptual framework to measure the value of cancer treatment options based on the costs, effectiveness, and side effects. The framework was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
• Using pet dogs to drive drug development in cancer treatment, researchers presented their findings in a meeting sponsored by the National Cancer Policy Forum. Read more about their research in ScienceDaily.
• Despite guideline recommendations to limit medical tests before low-risk surgeries, a new study found that many with early breast cancer are still undergoing too many imaging tests which may prove more harmful than beneficial. The findings were reported in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.